I started out in the hole.
Dropped the car Wednesday morning for a look-see at an issue I had
neither the time nor equipment to handle and to get the aircon charged
up; it hadn't worked since I got the car.
Friday morning, two overnights and an astonishing ransom later, I
finally got it back, with some question whether it would hold together
all the way to Chicago. I popped back to the house, having decided not
to make the trip. My wife looked at the bill, said she figured it would
be that much, and told me to get on the road, as I was running out of time.
I guess she really wanted me out of the house.
Dropped a note to the list, tossed the camera bag and some clothes in
the car, bolted for the gas station, filled up, and drove back home to
get my CD's and the shirt with the collar on it. Kisses all around and
back on the road, calculated arrival at three-ish Chicago time.
One minor freak-out as I approached Cincinnati. Smoke/fog/steam/demons
came out of the center vents and I was instantly back in high school
when the engine in my "new" Capri coughed up the magic smoke on the
Interstate. I dove for the right lane in case something exploded, but
nothing else happened. A stop at a rest area for a pee and a calming
walk and I was on my way again, with a wary eye on the instrument cluster.
Made great time. Say what you will about Mercedes, but they shine at
highway speeds. I stayed within
stand-on-the-brake-pedal-if-a-trooper-appears distance of the speed
limit, and burned up the miles, until I hit Chicago, where the last few
miles to my hotel took about an hour.
As a result, I had just long enough to throw my stuff in the room, grab
a camera, ask directions to Chicago and State, and shuffle off to meet
up with Mark & Dr. Lisa, Chris & Karin, and Larry at the CTA station for
the ride up to the gallery.
Frankly, the reception was kind of a blur, with a lot of talking, a lot
of looking, some laughs, and genuine amazement that it was actually
happening. It was really a classic space, and the people coming in to
see the work were engaged in the show. A couple of them spoke to me,
which was nice. There's not a lot of "wow" in my photos, so I didn't
expect any interest at all.
I regretted declining an offer from Bill, Tom, Annsan and Jay to join
them for their after party, but I was all stove in. I brisk trip back
down the Brown Line with Mark and Lisa was pretty much all I could
handle. I stopped in a 7-11 for some junk food and hardly ate any of it
before I crashed.
It looks as though I may have been the only one who enjoyed the
Eggleston show, and that's cool. Could be a Southern thing, but the work
speaks to me in a way that a thousand pretty flower shots could never
do, and I'm writing as someone who shoots pretty flower shots on occasion.
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
